Just changed the upper control arms on my car. It's really easy and quick to do. I had a rattle in my front suspension and steering wheel going over bumps. New arms completely fixed this as the bushings were sheared apart internally but passed external inspection.
Step 1: Lift the front of the car at the crossmember and put jack stands under the rear control arm bushings. Remove the wheels.
Step 2: Reposition the jack to underneath the lower ball joint bolt and lift just until there is some upwards pressure. Remove the cotter pin from the upper ball joint and loosen the nut a few turns until there is a slight gap.

Hit the front of the knuckle with a nylon dead blow hammer until the joint releases.

Bump the jack up a bit and remove the nut. It should just spin off with no tension on it. Release the jack completely and remove the ball joint from the knuckle. No need to tie up the knuckle as it won't move much.
Remove the bolt holding the wiring to the upper control arm.

Bend and remove the bracket from the control arm. Loosen and remove the upper control arm bolts, front and rear. I used a straight 14mm ratcheting wrench to break then free and then removed them by hand. There is enough room to sneak them out without having to remove the strut.


Pull the arm straight out and off. Put the new arm into place in the correct orientation. They are R/L specific. Reinstall both bolts and tighten finger tight. Guide the knuckle up onto the ball joint stud. If it doesn't line up just move the stud by hand. Reinstall the original flanged nut and tighten to spec. Reinstall the cotter pin. Put the jack under the lower ball joint again and lift until the car is off the jack stand on that side. This puts the arm at ride height.

Now tighten the upper control arm bolts to spec. The bushing doesn't pivot on the bolt, it operates on internal shear of the rubber.
Reinstall the bracket and bolt for the wiring. It indexes on a nub on the arm. Lower and remove the jack. Reinstall the wheel. Job done. Total time for me was less than an hour for both sides. HUGE difference in ride quality and all the rattles and looseness are gone.
Here is what mine looked like. The inside of the bushing had completely separated and it was pivoting on that. The bushings looked fine externally. My car has 168k but I should have replaced these 50k miles ago at least.

 

Nice, thanks for the write-up.
Toyota parts or aftermarket?

 

Aftermarket Moog. $60/ea versus $480/ea OEM.

 

Understandable.
Any minor fitment issues worth mentioning?
Were you able to reuse the OE castle nut? I'm assuming MOOG supplied one with the arm...

 

No fitment issues at all. I reused the OE castle nut because it had a wide flange/washer. The supplied one was just a nut with no washer. The car drives so much better now.